The measure will enter into force this week, when it is published in the BOE
New step towards ‘normality’. He Minister council this Tuesday, February 7, will approve the end of the mandatory use of the mask in public transport. With this green light, the measure could enter into force on Wednesday or Thursday of this week, after the decree is published in the Official State Gazette. Of course, the mask will continue to be mandatory in hospitals and health centers, pharmacies and for visitors and workers in residences and social health centers.
The Government has made this decision taking into account the incidence of covid remains stable and has not increased during the Christmas celebrations or after the opening of the Chinese borders, as was initially feared since the Asian giant is suffering a strong wave of covid due to at the end of the strict containment policy. However, no worrisome variant has been detected in Spanish airports and alerts have also been lowered regarding the lineage detected in the US and Spain and called Kraken.
The decision has the support of the experts who advise the Government and the autonomies in the presentation of alerts, according to what the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, has stated, highlighting that each “phase”, each “achievement” against the pandemic, in the one that was entered “without navigation charts”, has taken place “in the hands of experts”.
Support of the autonomies
Several communities have long been demanding the end of a protection measure that many users do not use, especially on the subway, where no one monitors their use. The Catalan ‘ex-minister’ Josep Maria Argimon has questioned several times the obligation to wear a mask in transport and within the scientific advisory committee of the covid-19 of Catalonia the feeling is that “it does not make sense” to maintain this measure when for months It is not required in crowds and closed places such as discos or concerts, where the spread of the covid can be similar to that which takes place on public transport, reports Beatriz Pérez.
With the removal of the mask on the bus, subway, train or plane, it will only continue to be mandatory to use it in pharmacies, hospitals and health centers and for workers and visitors to residences and social health centers, in order to protect the elderly and vulnerable people who live or go to these places.
Mask-free environment
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Spain is one of the few countries where it is still mandatory to wear a mask in transport and given that the covid remains stable and hospital pressure has not increased worryingly with the arrival of winter, more and more voices called for an end to a protection measure that, a simple walk through the subway, allows you to verify that you do not have much social support. In fact, the transport sector demanded to put an end to it last September, but the experts in the presentation advised waiting for the winter to pass.
Even so, experts advise to be prudent and continue using the mask in closed environments when you have symptoms of any respiratory infection. “When we have symptoms we should use it responsibly and if we are at risk or vulnerable groups too. We must understand that our health affects that of others in some way, especially when there is an infectious disease involved,” Fernando pointed out. Simon.